I read a great article today in the April issue of Fast Company that talked about a shift taking place toward a design-based economy. The article suggests that this is the next evolution from the information economy (before that the service and manufacturing economies). I don’t know that I buy that completely. I still think we’re in an experience economy; however, this concept of design-based strategy has a place in understanding why some companies (and churches) are successful in creating Wow! experiences for their customers (and weekend guests).

The bottom line of the article is that we need to think more like designers.

• Rather than permanent assignments, we need to organize around projects.
• Rather than waiting until something is “just right,” we need to design the prototype, improve on it and then act on it.
• Rather than rewarding big-time managers, reward the big-time problem-solvers.
• Rather than waiting for proof that it’ll work or that it “must be,” reward those with the courage to explore what “might be.”

The article cited the example of Apple, “Companies such as Apple act like design shops by saying, ‘If everything must be proven, we’ll never make the likes of an iPod.’” The bottom line: we need to be less concerned with incremental improvements–getting better at the same thing–and get better doing something completely different. I love this challenge: We need to be about “devising clever solutions to wickedly difficult problems.”

If there’s any organization facing wickedly difficult problems it’s the local church. This article was a great reminder to me that we must always be about designing new methods to deliver an unchanging message of forgiveness, love and hope found only in Jesus Christ.

I’m looking forward to seeing the Maximum Impact simulcast on Friday. Yes, I get to hear Maxwell and Buckingham and Lencioni, but the person I’m most looking forward to hearing is Coach K. I really admire him. He’s built a dynasty at Duke. He’s run a clean program. He’s mentored some incredible coaches (including Mike Brey at Notre Dame). And, he turned down the big bucks to join the Lakers. That move, alone, guaranteed Coach K’s place in my mind as a cool cat.

Today even more good news came out of Durham. Shelden Williams announced he’s passing on the opportunity to enter the NBA draft and will return to Duke for his senior year. Get this–he actually wants to earn a degree, and that’s one of the primary reasons he decided to stay. Of course, the other benefit is that Duke will certainly be the favorite for next year’s national championship especially since almost the entire North Carolina team decided to turn pro early.

Watch for Duke to be cutting down the nets next April in Indy.

It’s #96 in Simply Strategic Volunteers: Add fun people to the team. In that chapter I suggest that your attitude is your decision, and as a leader the attitudes of those on your team are also your decision. There are many reasons why a positive culture are important to any organization, but one of the primary benefits is that it helps to attract more positive people.

Steve Pavlina’s post on determining your “optimism ratio” addresses this very topic. I love this quote in particular:

You’ll often see a pattern where like attracts like. Pessimistic news sources will attract pessimistic readers, partly because those are the best targets for advertising — negative people are more like to believe that buying products will change their emotional state. A pessimistic company will attract and breed pessimistic employees — the high-energy positive people will go where their enthusiasm is welcome.

The lesson here is obvious for churches. If you want to create a contagious environment that’s attractive to people outside your church, you have to build a team of cool, positive people. You gotta’ have fun, and it’s your job to make sure your team embraces that value.